New approach to gerontology: building up "successful aging" conditions

Great efforts have been made in developed societies to extend human life expectancy as much as possible. Continuing investments into extending the life-span into the "fourth age" actually reduce the opportunities of people to age successfully and die in dignity. Consequently, in recent years, the concept of "Successful Aging" (SA) has gained increased attention: investigators recognize the importance of separating pathologic changes from those which may be attributed to aging in itself, in order to interpret correctly the differences between Pathologic Aging, Normal Aging, and Successful Aging. Hence, according to recent literature on aging, our aim was to question here the validity of recommendations made in the literature for policy making in the treatment of aging and suggest new alternatives.

We have tried to understand and develop a method of analysis to the following question: what do we actually mean by SA? Successful Aging may be seen as an arbitrary, subjective term, so we studied which indicators characterize elderly persons as successful aged.

The results of this study show that older people's views of SA appear to be multidimensional and more complex than the apparent viewpoint of many of early studies, which tended to focus on a single dimension of health - psychological or mental.

We argue the proper use of various health indicators and health enhancers, as proposed in the current international literature, in the definition of SA.